coming your way for the weekend coming up throughout the show. >> jeff, we'll see you shortly. what happens this weekend? a lot of holiday events are planned throughout the bay area. some are being postponed while others will be soggy. the tree lighting ceremony will go on as planned tomorrow night. organizers of the children's holiday parade say they have no intention of cancelling the longstanding event. >> we have no problem at all with weather. rain or shine, we've done this for 56 years and we've cancelled one year, that was 1983 when it was bad. we're not counting on that. >> reporter: this train is one of 200 entries. they've been preparing for the float since august. and they plan to tough it out in the rain. the oakland holiday parade, always popular, scheduled for saturday. has drawn crowds of more than 100,000 people in the past. the storm may keep some people away, but the parade marches on. >> the skyline could be drastically changing.

the south bay could see taller skyscrapers and possibly a second downtown. right now, the flight path for the san jose airport limits the height restrictions for buildings. in the story you'll see only on nbc bay area, the city council is hoping to change that. damion trujillo is live in san jose. when can the city start breaking ground. >> the city would start tonight if it could. proponents say a taller skyline would mean more revenue for the city. and more majestic look for san jose. this is the view from a top communications hill in south san jose. and newcomers immediately notice this doesn't have the feel of the nation's tenth largest city. >> i'm from los angeles, i love the city. san francisco. san jose doesn't have that feel. and maybe that would. maybe a larger skyline would. >> the skyline would look much different p it wasn't for the airport. >> the good news for many of the companies that are located in the downtown, they're very close to the airport.

the bad news for the downtown is that it's very close to the airport. >> council woman says the airport height restrictions on the skyline are limiting investment opportunities. developers aren't eager to build here. >> construction -- often it doesn't make any sense financially for them to start construction unless they can build 30 or 40 stories or more. being able to have a few additional stories really determines whether the project is likely to move forward or not. >> the faa recently completed a pilot study at other airports looking at emergency takeoff patterns. depending on the results of that study, the faa may allow taller buildings downtown. >> i think it looks nice the way it is. if you add more to it, we're going to become too busy, too involved. i don't know, i like the way it is now. >> the master plan calls for a mini-second skyline in north san jose. an area not regulated by the faa. >> you will see increasingly taller buildings, but you're not

likely to see anything of the height that rivals the downtown. >> the downtown that might get a face lift if the feds give the all clear. >> san jose's aviation director says it might take the faa several years to rule on this, but to this point, they have not said no. live in downtown san jose, damian trujillo, nbc bay area news. it's an anxious night for people on both sides of the same sex marriage battle. the supreme court may announce whether it will hear the case that's preventing gay couples in california from getting married. cheryl hurd joins us with more on this ripple effect. no matter which way the court decides. cheryl? >> supreme court justices will be behind closed doors tomorrow, the end result of that meeting may mean that gay couples will flock here to san francisco's city hall to get married. or they may not. >> this time we think this is finally it.

>> tom watson was fifth in line to get their marriage license two years ago. when the courts decided to put gay marriage on hold. >> i feel like we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. we're hopeful about what could happen in the next few days. >> on friday, nine supreme court justices are scheduled to meet behind closed doors and decide if they will take a series of cases. one of them is the federal defense of marriage act. the other is prop 8. the ban on same sex marriage in california. >> it's very very likely the court will take at least one of the cases challenging the federal defense of marriage act. the federal law that prevents the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same sex couples, even in states where it's legal for them to get married. >> those who are fighting to keep marriage between a man and a woman in california believes the high court will hear their case. >> this is something that fundamentally belongs to the people and their elected representatives to decide what

marriage means and whether we're going to experiment with changing it. >> california has been in an on and off again relationship with gay marriage. it was allowed on valentine's day 2004, soon after that, those who believed marriage should be between a man and a woman filed an appeal, sending gay marriage rights all the way to the supreme court. >> even if they deny in the prop 8 case, that doesn't mean the next day you can do gay marriage in san francisco. what it means is the case has to be returned back to the ninth circuit. the ninth circuit has to return it back to the district court. >> reporter: tom and jeff say they're optimistic. >> for me it would be a validation of our commitment to each other. not just to each other, to our families, but to the entire community. >> a supreme court decision may come early monday morning. live in san francisco. i'm cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >> thanks, cheryl. a fright thing night for a

peninsula woman after she found a stranger in her bedroom. now the hunt is on for the suspect who could be tied to other attacks in the area. the woman woke up at 2:30 this morning to find the man in her apartment loeblgts located on h avenue. the suspect entered her apartment by breaking the lock and forcing his way through the front door. after she screamed and struggled with the man, he took off. police are now investigating whether he's the same man behind several recent groping incidents. they also want to know why he chose her apartment. >> downtown palo alto, we'll go through all of that to see if she was followed. if it's someone that specifically did pick her out. >> terrified, i'm glad i live with my boyfriend. >> police say the woman suffered a bruised wrist. the suspect is described as having an average build and was wearing a dark hooded jacket or sweatshirt. the historic vote with implications for the future. the united nations vote is

viewed as a victory for palestinians and an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the united states. there were plenty of cheers in the west bank. palestinians took their victory celebration into the streets. israel still controlled the west bank. east jerusalem and access to gaza, and voted against recognizing a palestinian state. so did the u.s. the vote count was an overwhelming 138 to 9. 41 nations abstained. secretary of state hillary clinton says the vote places further obstacles in the path to peace. real independence from palestinians remaining elusive according to the secretary of state, until a peace deal is negotiated with israel. president obama and mitt romney had a private lunch at the white house today. we know what they ate but no specifics about their conversation. the get together marked their first meeting since facing off in the third presidential debate. the menu included turkey chilly

and southwestern grilled chicken saeid. the former rivals posed for an official autograph in the oval office. much of the hour long conversation focused on america's leadership in the world. meanwhile, president obama sent vice president biden to do some christmas shopping, sort of. he went to a suburban costco to talk about the fiscal cliff and tax cuts. he took photos with shoppers, chatted up the staff and was followed around the store by a huge crowd. his favorite part, like many of us who go to costco, all those free samples. he did get around to talk tax cuts. >> i think it's important that congress acts now. i mean, right now. all that needs to be done is extend the middle class tax cut.

>> he bought cookies, children's books, an apple pie and a 32 inch tv. he declined an offer to buy a set of tires saying, i don't drive any more. the driver behind the crash has a bizarre explanation for why it happened. good evening, i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri in the bay area weather center. we're tracking the latest storm moving across california. a flash flood watch. and if you're headed to the sierra, watch out, winter storm warning in place, where we could see six to ten inches on your full forecast coming up. now it's our turn. californians will be able to play one of the biggest lottery games in the country. stay with us. hey, look! a shooting star!

make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. test drive! but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. people who live in an east oakland neighborhood are still traumatized after witnessing two young girls dying in the streets

over the weekend. they were best friends. teddy bears and candles marked the spot where the girls bodies were found. neighbors heard dozens of gunshots early sunday morning. when they went outside, they saw bobby and raquel bleeding in the street. both girls died at the scene. neighbors who ran to their aid say the killings are over the top even for oakland. >> it's not safe for nobody. nobody. but when it comes to females getting killed. that's when you know people don't have a heart out here. that's when you know there's no justice, there's no peace. there are still no suspects in this crime. >> a century old oyster farm must go. that's the word today from u.s. interior secretary ken salazar. salazar informed the owners of the drake bay oyster company, they must cease operations when their 40 year lease expires tomorrow. the federal government plans to restore the area to wilderness. environmentalists complained the farm stood in the way of the

restoration. the farms owners waged a 7-year battle to convince the feds to extend their lease. 30 employees will soon lose their jobs. >> it's a cultural tradition ending abruptly, to be given one day to cease operations. this is beyond imaginable. >> salazar gave the farm 90 days to remove its property from the site, including a million oysters now in the farms tidal channel. the owners are now reviewing their options. here's an odd story. sneezing is to blame. our nbc chopper over the scene today in san leandro. a sneezing fit caused a major accident that damaged nearly a dozen cars at this used car lot. a driver tells the chp he lost control of a three axle truck this morning while driving on east 14th street. he said he was sneezing and lost control. his truck jumped the curb, tore

down a fence and plowed into several cars and trucks at the united auto center. no one was hurt thankfully and the driver was not cited. >> we have ruled out the possibility of alcohol or drugs being involved. it is unfortunate. sneezing is not against the law. it would be a little inattentive to his driving. >> caltrans used absorbent material to soak up 30 gallons of diesel fuel from one of the damaged trucks. the driver is from modesto. warning apartment owners about a new law about fire detectors. fire officials say carbon monoxide poisoning kills 450 people every year. landlords are responsible for installing the detectors and could face fines if they don't. >> they should have these detectors installed in corridors

protecting sleeping areas. outside of sleeping areas. and at least one per floor. >> a similar law went into effect last year requiring the detectors in single family homes and duplexes. the powerball is coming to california. a day after a record hijack pot for several other states, the california lottery commission worked out a new deal. the $2 game is played like the mega millions here in california. you choose five numbers and a powerball number, draws are every wednesday and saturday. the one major difference between the two games, is that the powerball starts at $40 million and increases by $10 million with every roll. last night's powerball was nearly $600 million. winning tickets were sold in arizona and missouri. with california in the mix, the jackpot could be even higher. >> i don't want to predict it, i think you will see potentially sometime a billion dollar lottery because of the inclusion of california to the 44 jurisdictions who are already

playing the game. >> did he say a billion dollar prize? >> yeah. >> i think he said a billion dollar lottery. powerball sales are set to begin next april. >> let's talk about the weather now. another round coming in. let's check in with jeff ranieri. >> we want to get started with the flash flood advisory issued this afternoon. also for the north bay, i think the concern is going to be the highs in the north bay, where we could see three to six inches of rain, which you should know about a flash flood watch if you live in any of this area in green. we could have quick rising water on the streets as we head throughout the next 24 hours with little to no warning. great advise, if you approach standing water and you're in your car, you don't know the depth of it, do not try to drive through. it only takes a couple feet of water to carry away a car. a little more on the dramatic side. we know how mother nature is. we're forecasting six inches of rain, you get eight, that's

enough to flip the switch over to deadly and severe weather. our biggest concern will be in gurnville. we're going to be monitoring the flood stage there. let's get you back to the radar and winds. we have anywhere from 15 to 35 miles per hour, the rain also beginning to intensify, the most in the north bay right now, we're finding ponding on the roadways, from santa rosa down to petaluma. getting close to san francisco. my biggest concern is on highway 101 for anyone traveling that way, visibility will be cut down quite a bit tonight and the roadways extremely slick. also slick across the peninsula, the south bay and east bay. radar's not showing too much. we know there's plenty of mist out here and developing showers. in san jose, there you go right now, the roadways are wet, and it's not heavy. but it's enough to slow traffic down to a crawl at this desk here.

280, and can you also see that cloud cover starting to roll on in. let's get you the latest on our storms coming our way. we have the second and third wave of energy continuing tonight through saturday morning. it's going to linger for about two days. it's going to be the slowest of all the storm systems. as we head into sunday, the fourth and final storm system in our series of storms will arrive. and that's where we think river flooding could be the highest. as all this water will have nowhere to go. for some of you it's going to be worse than others. we'll start to see that rain increase up into the north bay. by 11:00 p.m., showers continuing to push to the south. i think we're going to hold off on some of that heaviest rainfall. it's going to get going again on your morning commute. unfortunately, not only rain, but wind. it could gust to 45 miles per hour. we'll hang on to some showers. as we head into sunday, still more lingering showers, that's where our flood concern comes in, by saturday evening we'll

find the next wave of energy starting to move on in into the north bay. here's a look at some of those totals, again the north bay will have the highest concern of any kind of flooding, where we could have overall totals ranging 4 to 5 inches. the wind for tomorrow morning, look at the key at the bottom of your screen. the pinks and magentas, 50 mile per hour wind gust. we could see some of that happening tomorrow morning. it could take down trees and bring down power outages. as far as river level concerns go. it's the russian river by sunday and monday, 29.1 feet expected to reach action stage and/or close to it, and flood stage not out of the question right now, but it doesn't look like it at this point. temperatures in the low 60s here for friday. let's get that seven-day forecast in here. we're going to find the latest storm moving in tomorrow. keep a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast saturday, and then that fourth and final storm as we head throughout sunday. i know we've been tracking the storms and labelling them one,

two, three, four, all you should know is the wet weather is coming our way. coming up, an extraordinary act of kindness. the story of an officer and a homeless man that has many people on the web taking notice. can you hear me now? which cell phone provider really has the worst service? we have the results.

the real life drama of the oscar brand shooting will make a prestigious debut. a movie detailing grant's final hours before he was shot and killed by a bart police station. playing grant's mother in the movie is octavia spencer who starred in "the help." oscar grant is being played by michael b. jordan from friday night lights and parenthood. are you happy with your cell phone company? consumer reports is out with annual reports of wireless

providers. none of the four major carriers had an overall satisfaction score above 72%. however, verizon ranked number one with the best service, followed by sprint, t-mobile and at&t. at&t ranks best when it came to 4 g service. cell phone companies remain along the lowest ratest service providers. a remarkable act of kindness. ♪ we were skipping stones and letting go ♪

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kindness goes viral. a photo of the new york police officer giving new boots to a barefoot homeless man. a tourist took the photo and posted it on the nypd facebook page. the officer says he saw the barefoot man and because it was

freezing outside, he did not hesitate to buy him some shoes. the officer just walked into a nearby store and bought the pair of boots. >> i couldn't believe it, it's so cold out, you can see the blisters on his feet. it was a terrible thing to see. i didn't think, i just kind of did what i figured anybody would do. >> this has been a very humbling experience, he's happy he could carry this picture with him for the rest of his career. the photo has received more than 400,000 likes. >> what a great story. jeff ranieri, one last time. we have holiday parades tomorrow and saturday. i guess we just have to deal with it? >> we definitely do. a lot of folks will be getting wet more than others. the north bay and coastline, that's who could get the most rainfall. you're under a flash flood watch as we head throughout friday night. otherwise on our seven-day forecast, which you're going to find here, saturday, a chance for isolated showers and thunderstorms. for the stanford game, the

question will be, will it be too wet. we're looking at another storm stith, that's our final storm on sunday. we'll have to watch things closely. >> thanks for joining us tonight. we hope to see you back at 6:00 for more local news. what are you doing there?

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add a layer of warmth to your next dinner. pillsbury grands biscuits let the making begin. on our broadcast tonight, melting away. there is new and dramatic evidence of what is happening to our world melting ice and rising seas at record levels, and tonight we'll look at the impact already being felt. historic vote for palestinians of the u.n., as most of the world defies the u.s.